28 July 2024 – The Triffid, Brisbane – words by Alessandro Ambrosi – pictures by Charlyn Cameron
Ahhh, Sunday night concerts have a particular and peculiar feeling to them. Most likely because of the looming Monday and therefore the never-ending rise-work-sleep cycle that afflicts most people.
EYEHATEGOD are here to remind us just of that with the final Australian show on their Turn Troubled Tables tour.
“Wake up every day
Go to work, go to school
Every day, every day, every day, every day”, they will remind us to do later in the evening.
Formed in New Orleans at the end of the 80’s they are one of those bands that are hard to place in a specific genre. Southern blues meets HC meets sludge makes them unique and the approaching 40 years on the road are a testament to that uniqueness. Fronted by Mike IX Williams with guitarist Jimmy Bower (also in Down, Crowbar and Superjoint Ritual) as the two remaining forming members, after drummer Joey LaCaze death in 2013, they make their return to Australian shores after their 2019 tour.
Accompanying EHG are GOATWHORE, also coming from New Orleans, and bringing their satanic anti-Christian mix of blackened death metal and thrash. They have been missing in action since 2015 and the crowd response later in the evening shows that their return was long overdue.
Opening the night are Gold Coast own’s DEFIANT GROUND with their high energy dose of HC that touches social issues like family violence and violence against women and political ones like equality. A ray of positivity in perhaps a nihilistic oriented (at least music-wise) night.
Defiant Ground – Triffid – photos by Charlyn Cameron
After the usual Merch table check, and a quick trip to the bar, at 19:50 DEFIANT GROUND make their way to the stage with shirtless frontman Benny exploding energy from the get go. They start with a scarcely filled Triffid but as the set progresses more patrons make their way into the live music hall. Their 9 songs, 4 of which are taken by their 2024 DEMO’24, are energetic as you would expect from and HC band and keep the crowd entertained for the 30 minutes available to them. Opener ‘Is this it?’ hits like a brick and sets the tone for the performance. A cover of ‘Paint it Black‘ from the Stones stands out for originality, ‘Stagg‘ and ‘Save Yourself’ with its echoing message ends the overall positive experience. A tight set and a band to go see live if you get the chance.
After a brief visit to the bar is time for leather and spikes to make their way to the stage with GOATWHORE. The change in atmosphere, crowd and vibe is palpable as they hit the patrons with their mix. Opening the set is ‘The Bestowal of Abominations’ which unfortunately has a horrible drum mix (at least from where I was standing). The issue seems resolved straight away with ‘Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult’ from A HAUNTING CURSE which also coincide with the first real moshpit of the evening.
Goatwhore – Triffid – photos by Charlyn Cameron
‘Death from Above‘ and ‘Under the Flesh, Into the Soul‘ keep the crowd going in an ever-increasing barrage of blackened death metal, horns and satanism. Frontman Louis Benjamin Falgoust II likes a good interaction with the crowd as he points out that the last time they hit Australian shores was in 2015 with homegrown Psycroptic. We are also introduced to Frankie Demuru on drums, which is filling in for Zack, who couldn’t make it to Australia due to visa issues. He he’s dubbed “The Australian Stallion” by Louis which also points out that they all give sexy nicknames to each other (SO METAL!!!). By the way Frankie does an outstanding job in filling up for drums.
‘FBS’ and ‘Born of Satan’s Flesh’ keep the revs up before we dwell into melody with ‘Angels Hung From the Arches of Heaven’ from they 2022 album of the same title. A personal favourite of mine. Guitarist Sammy Duet and bassist Robert Coleman know their trades incredibly well too. ‘Apocalyptic Havoc’ brings exactly that with what would be the biggest mosh of the night. Fist pumps, horns and sweat are flowing freely as we approach the end with “Wound of Perdition” and the straight out the 80’s thrashy “Baring Teeth for Revolt” which ends the set with frontman Louis getting up close and delivering fist bumps and hugs before calling it.
After about 20 minutes in which the stage gets stripped down to the bare minimum, including the HC minimalistic oriented drumkit and a couple of cabinets added for storage of drinks etc, headliners EYEHATEGOD make their unassuming way to the stage and before you know, what looked like an instrument check turns into the start of the set.
Bower’s guitar is crunchy and bluesy as is bassist Gary Mader instrument all the while Aaron Hill drumming reminds me of a Jazz performance (for now) and frontman Mike IX watches from the side waiting for the right time to make his way to the stage. ‘Dixie Whiskey’ from masterpiece DOPESICK launches the performance into full effect with Williams pained short burst of words yelled to a responding crowd.
EYEHATEGOD – Triffid – photos by Charlyn Cameron
EHG are best enjoyed live and tonight’s performance is just a reminder of that. It’s hard to explain if you’re assisting to a jam session or a live performance as everything flows very naturally on stage. I got the feeling that it would be the same sensation with 100 or 10000 in attendance. ‘High Risk Trigger’ from 2021 A HISTORY OF NOMADIC BEHAVIOUR , ‘Sister Fucker pt 1’ with the unfriendly “BURN HER” refrain and ‘Medicine Noose’ blast into the crowd with Bower and Mader chunky distorted riffs and feedbacks.
After some loud noises of disapproval when Mike tells the crowd that it reminds him of Adelaide (whatever happened there) Bower picks it back up with a triade of fan favourites consisting of HC oriented ‘Agitation! Propaganda!’ and ‘Peace Thru War (Thru Peace and War)’ with sludgier ‘New Orleans is the New Vietnam’ in between. ‘Methamphetamine’ reminds us of Mike’s love for some illegal substances I won’t name (not hard to guess?) and finally we are reminded to ‘Kill Your Boss’ as we get inundated with despair with ‘Every Thing, Every Day’ and it’s hypnotic yet violent lyrics of being stuck into a never-ending loop of work/school rinse and repeat “EVERY DAY EVERY DAY EVERY DAY”.
After what I think was the shortest time I’ve ever seen between “pretending” to finish and coming back for encores, the band brings us ‘Take as Needed for Pain’ and ’30$ Bag‘ which are undoubtedly fan favourites given the crowd response (I seem to recall some crowd surfing too). There’s space for one more after which we are left with thanks you’s and appreciation for coming out to check the band and a quick set dismantle.
What can be said about tonight’s EYEHATEGOD performance is that no matter how hard you go in life and how hard you get hit by life itself between drug addictions, dying members and hospitalizations when it comes to live performances they stand on a league of their own with their dirty and yet perfect mix.
I’m glad I made it and so was everyone else.
